2022 MBA To Watch: Kristen Koepsell, North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

“Combining my science background with my enterprise acumen, I’m devoted to bettering affected person lives.”

Hometown: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Enjoyable truth about your self: I’ve proven and skilled canines for a few years and have competed a number of instances at The Westminster Kennel Membership Canine Present and The Nationwide Canine Present.

Undergraduate College and Diploma:

BA Magna Cum Laude (Biology), Mount Holyoke School

MS (Biomedical Sciences), Tufts College College of Medication

The place was the final place you labored earlier than enrolling in enterprise college? b.nicely Linked Well being, Venture Supervisor

The place did you intern in the course of the summer time of 2021? Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), Princeton, New Jersey

The place will you be working after commencement? Bristol Myers Squibb, Industrial Management Improvement Program Affiliate

Group Work and Management Roles in Enterprise College:

• President, Healthcare Membership
• Curriculum Advisory Board Consultant
• MBA Pupil Ambassador
• Forté Fellow
• Taylor Rankin Memorial Fund Fellowship World Immersion Elective 2021 & 2022

Which tutorial or extracurricular achievement are you most pleased with throughout enterprise college? Serving because the President of the Healthcare Membership was very rewarding for me. I led an Government Board of 14 VPs, who’re all proficient second-year classmates. We transitioned from working collectively just about throughout first yr to navigating an in-person setting throughout our second yr whereas attending to know one another and the first-year class.

In my function as president, I additionally labored very intently with the UNC Heart for the Enterprise of Well being.  The middle is an amazing advocate of the membership and provides college students a mess of sources to study healthcare and to attach with trade consultants.

What achievement are you most pleased with in your skilled profession? Throughout my time in medical analysis, I labored on a nationwide, NIH-funded, multi-center randomized managed trial for pediatric and grownup sufferers with nephrolithiasis. Collaborating with a gaggle of principal investigators, I created the function and duties for the novel well being teaching element of the intervention arm of the research. By means of my function, I led a staff of well being coaches from throughout the U.S. and skilled every coach to work with analysis individuals concerning habits change and modification. Engaged on this challenge allowed me to construct my management abilities and to mentor teammates.  I used to be additionally lucky to work intently with analysis individuals to assist them obtain their well being targets.

Why did you select this enterprise college? From the beginning of the appliance course of, UNC Kenan-Flagler exhibited many attributes that I used to be in search of in an MBA program. Tradition was notably vital as a result of I wished to be in an educational surroundings that was collaborative, not aggressive, and the place I’d be valued as a each a scholar and an individual. Every scholar with whom I linked in the course of the utility course of described the nice and cozy and welcoming UNC Kenan-Flagler group, and I’ve witnessed the core values come to life throughout my time as a scholar. The school and administration are devoted to college students and genuinely need to see every scholar succeed. The pay-it-forward mentality resonates by means of second-year to first-year college students and the great UNC Kenan-Flagler alums who take pleasure in connecting with college students. I’m very lucky to be a member of the UNC Kenan-Flagler group and sit up for persevering with the legacy.

Who was your favourite MBA professor? Michael Christian is a implausible professor!  I took his course, Main Teams & Groups, which was instrumental in serving to me be taught concrete steps and actions for being an efficient chief. As a result of Professor Christian excels at presenting course content material in an approachable and systematic means, I used to be in a position to apply what I used to be studying in school to my function as Healthcare Membership president. Professor Christian skillfully stimulates class discussions and incorporates his personal skilled experiences to emphasise key studying factors.

What was your favourite MBA occasion or custom at what you are promoting college? The annual UNC Enterprise of Healthcare Convention is an excellent occasion! Yearly, the Healthcare Membership works with the UNC Heart for the Enterprise of Well being to prepare and host the Convention, which is open to anybody inside and out of doors of UNC Kenan-Flagler. This yr’s convention theme was “Main the Subsequent Technology of Well being”, and a tremendous group of audio system and panelists targeted on how as leaders and shoppers, we are able to navigate by means of dynamic and unsure circumstances. Regardless of being absolutely digital, the convention had glorious attendance and engagement. Additionally on the convention, I had the honour of asserting the successful staff, which represented UNC, of the 2021 UNC Healthcare Case Competitors!

Trying again over your MBA expertise, what’s the one factor you’d do in a different way and why? Two years go by rapidly!  I want there was extra time to discover sources at UNC along with these at UNC Kenan-Flagler.  Particularly, I’d have favored to take a course at one other college, such because the Gillings College of World Public Well being.

What’s the largest fantasy about your college? Earlier than I joined UNC Kenan-Flagler, I heard the time period “The Carolina Approach” from a number of college students. I used to be not fairly certain what that meant, however I now understand how vital “The Carolina Approach” is to the UNC Kenan-Flagler and larger UNC communities.  College students, school and employees are devoted to embodying the core values and fostering a supportive, inclusive group. There’s immense delight for the establishment and loyalty to assist each other succeed. Go Heels!

What stunned you essentially the most about enterprise college? I knew that by coming to UNC Kenan-Flagler, I’d meet college students from all totally different backgrounds and experiences. My classmates are multi-talented and have enriched my experiences each out and in of the classroom!

What’s one factor you probably did in the course of the utility course of that gave you an edge on the college you selected? All through the appliance course of, I spoke with a number of college students. I began with college students who had been concentrating in healthcare and advertising, after which linked with college students from different industries. Each single scholar who I reached out to responded (typically inside minutes) and was greater than keen to talk with me. Along with inquiring about lecturers and recruiting, I explored their experiences interfacing with classmates and college. These conversations had been important in serving to me get to know UNC Kenan-Flagler and perceive what being an MBA scholar was like on a day-to-day foundation. Additionally they solidified my choice to use and to attend UNC Kenan-Flagler. As an MBA Pupil Ambassador, I converse with many potential college students and extremely suggest that they proceed participating with present college students.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Herman Bhupal and I met as teammates for the 2020 UNC Healthcare Case Competitors. Despite the fact that we had been absolutely digital for our first yr, we rapidly grew to become mates, particularly after spending a number of hours on Zoom getting ready for the competitors. Herman brings nice vitality and experience to the classroom. (She can be incomes her MSPH from the UNC Gillings College of World Public Well being.)  Her information of well being coverage is in depth, and he or she is all the time keen to reply questions and to share insights. I’m lucky to have labored with Herman in a number of different group settings, together with on the Healthcare Membership govt board, and I’m excited to see what wonderful issues she accomplishes!

Who most affected your choice to pursue enterprise in faculty? Certainly one of my faculty professors has all the time been a big inspiration for me and continued to be as I made the choice to pursue an MBA. Her personal profession journey has consisted of various twists and turns, and he or she approaches every one with a constructive perspective and willpower to succeed. Initially, I used to be not sure how I may greatest merge my science background with enterprise, my professor helped me to refine my targets primarily based on my previous experiences and imaginative and prescient for the longer term.  From there, I’ve been in a position to talk and to guide with my most genuine self.

What are the highest two objects in your skilled bucket record?

1. Serve on the Board of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – My sister, who’s a leukemia survivor, impressed me to pursue a profession in healthcare.
2. Work internationally – I want to be taught to develop and execute model methods in markets exterior of the U.S.

How has the pandemic modified your view of a profession? The pandemic has made me much more dedicated to a enterprise profession in healthcare. There’s a multitude of unsolved challenges that require collaboration throughout many alternative stakeholders, and digital work necessitates flexibility and creativity to develop revolutionary options. I’m excited to embark on the following chapter of my profession at BMS!

What made Kristen such a useful member of the Class of 2023?

“Kristen Koepsell has left a profound influence on UNC Kenan-Flagler each within the classroom and with respect to our healthcare efforts. I’ve had the privilege to show her within the classroom and work along with her as a scholar chief of the Curriculum Advisory Board, in addition to the Healthcare Membership, and her influence will likely be seen at UNC Kenan-Flagler for a few years. We had been fortunate to have her as a scholar within the Class of 2022.

She is a brilliant, constructive chief who works nicely with others. She is organized, decided and onerous working. She has proven a capability to thrive in unsure and ambiguous environments.

I first got here to know Kristen as she stepped up as a frontrunner of our Curriculum Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB represents college students’ views within the classroom and helps school and employees repeatedly enhance the tutorial expertise. Kristen took the function in an extremely difficult time as COVID meant that the state of affairs was continuously altering. She advocated for college kids, helped the administration make choices after which labored to speak these choices. I can’t think about navigating that tough time with out her calm, collected, considerate presence. She continued that function all through this system and he or she will likely be sorely missed.

By itself that may be a big sufficient contribution to warrant this recognition, for my part. Nonetheless, CAB was not her most vital influence on UNC Kenan-Flagler. Kristen additionally served as Healthcare Membership president. Taking up this function over the previous yr was fairly tough as we had been beginning up primarily in-person studying once more. That meant she wanted to deliver collectively college students who principally had not interacted face-to-face. She has proven herself to be a robust chief who has impacted our healthcare efforts in a means that will likely be seen for years. It started as she very deliberately assembled a various management staff. This staff represented the various views of scholars and helped to combine the category.

She has been clear about her targets. One was to additional advance our Healthcare Convention. 2021-2022 is a essential time for the enterprise of well being, given the myriad of points we face, and he or she assembled an outstanding lineup of audio system after which helped the membership to have interaction with them in ways in which led to the largest and greatest healthcare convention the varsity has ever seen. She discovered the correct mix of encouragement and assist to information her management staff of their efforts to enhance the preparation of our college students and likewise helped lead an revolutionary, interdisciplinary case competitors that introduced collectively college students from throughout the nation.

Kristen is a novel and proficient scholar. The Class of 2022 would have been missing with out her presence. She has been a pleasure to associate with given her phenomenal expertise, excessive vitality, and empathy. She has improved UNC Kenan-Flagler in elementary methods along with her tutorial and healthcare work. Her influence will likely be seen for years to come back.”

Brad Staats
Affiliate Dean of MBA Applications
College Director, Heart for the Enterprise of Well being Ellison Distinguished Professor of Operations